His Beatitude Sviatoslav:

Unity of Catholics and Orthodox is not utopian thinking

Today the ecumenical movement is alive globally. It is unstoppable. Thus it is important for our sister church, the newly-born Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, to take part, and avoid isolation. The search for universal unity between Catholic and Orthodox Churches is vibrant in Ukraine. No wonder St. Pope John Paul II once called Ukraine a “laboratory of ecumenism.” Therefore, cooperation with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is essential.

We have agreed with His Beatitude Epiphanius, to work out a “road map” in order to see in which parts of our church life we could indeed do things together. Every effort must be made not only to overcome the division within Ukrainian Orthodoxy, but also to seriously theologize, pray, and work in order to restore the original unity of the Church of Kyiv in its Orthodox and Catholic branches. The UGCC carries the mystical ecclesiastical memory of the undivided Christianity of the first millennium and, although we live in full communion with the successor of the Apostle Peter, we recognize that our Mother Church is the Church of ancient Constantinople.

“Every effort must be made to restore the original unity of the Church of Kyiv in its Orthodox and Catholic branches”                                                                                                                                                               Patriarch Sviatoslav